Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 224 Great Joy
Zhou, Niutou Fort.

The fort is located on a hillside, with the city walls on both sides extending forward, blocking the way up the mountain. The two walls are shaped like ox horns, and there are many arrow towers in the middle, where the terrain is higher, so it is called Niutou Fort.

At this moment, the soldiers on the city wall were running back and forth.

The soldiers occupied one battlement after another, holding bows and crossbows and aiming at the outside of the city.

A steady stream of soldiers rushed up the steps of the city wall, some quickly walked up to the city wall and slowly aimed the crossbows at the distance.

On the city wall at the main gate, Wang Jingjun, accompanied by a few close associates, looked into the distance in panic.

Beyond the hillside, dust was rolling.

There is already a lot of flying sand outside the Great Wall, and at this moment, outside the hillside, it is filled with yellow sand, like another world that makes it unclear. The yellow sand is still increasing, and the entire area around Niutou Fort seems to be occupied by yellow sand, like a light boat in a sea of ​​sand.

The soldiers stationed on the city wall were all a little frightened at this moment.

Wang Jingjun's face turned pale. He looked around and asked, "How many enemies are there?"

The deputy general said calmly: "The number of enemies should not be large."

"They are just pretending to be mysterious. They tie branches to their horses and run them back and forth to scare us and make us think they are numerous."

"I think if their numbers are really large, they don't need to intimidate us in this way. It should be that they don't have many troops and can't attack by force, so they want to intimidate us."

After Wang Jingjun heard what he said, his expression remained grim.

Wang Jingjun has a rugged appearance and is tall, quite intimidating, a bit like Gao Anagon, but the fear in his eyes makes him look not so majestic.

"When Hulugu came, he was in the same posture. I thought he was few in number, but when he went out of the city to fight, he had more than 10,000 cavalrymen."

"How do you know they're not doing this on purpose to make us think they're outnumbered?"

The deputy general was suddenly speechless.

He had no choice but to persuade him, "General, don't worry. Tianzhu and Xin'an are very close to us. If they make such a commotion, they will definitely be noticed and they will send reinforcements soon."

"Yes! Yes! That's right! That's how Hulugu defeated the second reinforcement army!"

Wang Jingjun was even more frightened at this moment.

Wang Jingjun was loved by Yuwen Hu in the past, so he was stationed in the three garrisons, absorbed the refugees from Qi State, organized them into an army, and then plundered the garrisons around Qi State.

Everything was going quite successfully until one day, a new governor named Hulugu Guang was appointed.

This formerly brave, aggressive, and extremely confident general lost all his confidence and became almost a completely different person, never again sending troops to attack the State of Qi.

The deputy general was originally very calm, but when he heard what his commander said, he suddenly became a little panicked.

Before the commander-in-chief gave any orders, the enemy rushed out from the yellow sand.

Some soldiers pushed tall shield carts, tied up with wood, made into a huge shield with wheels underneath. The soldiers on the city wall did not wait for orders and began to shoot arrows. The arrows broke through the air and fell like raindrops, but most of them were blocked by these shield carts. Behind the shield carts were battering rams used to attack the city gates, and some soldiers raised ladders. They advanced at a very fast speed.

Sure enough, there were quite a few of them.

In a moment, the road was crowded with charging Qi people.

Light cavalry swept through the formation from both sides, and a masked general charged forward. After shooting a round of arrows, he was quickly replaced by the second team.

A soldier holding a large shield stood in front of Wang Jingjun.

At this moment, Wang Jingjun was still observing the number of enemies, his face full of fear, looking around, but he did not give any military orders, or rather, he did not know what orders to give.

The deputy general hurriedly said: "General!! We have to defend the city in batches. There are the most battering rams and shield carts on the east side!!"

"Ah, go to the East City! Quickly lead the troops to the east to repel the enemy!"

"only!!"

Just as military orders were being issued everywhere to transfer troops to the East City, the shield carts stopped and the battering rams changed direction, and the main attack direction of the soldiers changed rapidly.

The enemy's flag was raised again and the sound of the horn became different, which meant the change of direction of the main attack and the feint attack.

The Qi army mobilized quickly, and Wang Jingjun also discovered the enemy's movements and hurriedly ordered another mobilization.

The soldiers in the city had just rushed to the east when they heard the order to go west. For a moment, the two armies collided, the generals questioned each other, and there was chaos on the city wall.

Both sides kept changing the focus of attack and defense, and after just a moment, the winner was clear!
The Qi people put up ladders on the city walls and shouted to climb the city walls. Battering rams continuously hit the city gates, which groaned violently and were on the verge of collapse.

The Zhou soldiers were still being deployed.

Wang Jingjun looked into the distance, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"General!! The enemy has climbed up the west gate wall!"

"General!! General Wang was killed!!"

"General! The West Gate has been lost!"

Scouts continued to bring news from afar.

The garrison cities of Qi and Zhou occupied a huge area. The commander-in-chief standing on the city wall could not always know the movements in the distance. The transmission of information took time, and the same was true for the movement of soldiers.

It would take a long time to run from the East Gate to the West Gate unless you were riding a horse.

When Wang Jingjun learned that the city gate had been lost, the enemy might have already begun charging towards him.

Wang Jingjun didn't dare to delay any longer and immediately led his men down the city wall.

"Take my horse!!"

"Retreat from the back hill!!"

The Qi soldiers continued to rush up the city wall and began to fight on the wall. Faced with Qi people who outnumbered themselves several times, the Zhou soldiers were defeated.

The border soldiers were in a killing mood. Relying on their armor, they rushed directly into the crowd, discarded their long weapons, and slashed left and right with their knives. The Zhou people screamed and fell from the city wall. Some shouted: "Kneel down and we won't kill you!!"

"Kneel down and don't kill me!!"

The Zhou soldiers began to throw away their weapons and kneel on the ground. Some armored soldiers opened the door, and the knights rushed in from several city gates and killed their way into the city.

The civilians in the city were so frightened that they dared not go out. Instead, they hid in their houses, hugged each other and cried loudly.

The knights advanced along the alleys and fought their way to the government office.

Military officers led the warriors out to fight, and after a while, only some corpses were left behind. The knights rushed into the government office and captured prisoners everywhere.

Liu Taozi rode on a green lion and led his troops into Niutou Fort in a swaggering manner.

Liu Chengcai looked around and grinned, "General, in the seventh year of Tianbao, I came here with General Hulu. We besieged Niutou and defeated the two reinforcements that came to rescue. Hahaha, I didn't expect that I would come here again today and enter the city!"

He looked at the lush green forests in the distance and shook his head in disdain. "No matter how strong the city is, it will be useless if it falls into the hands of these incompetent people."

Yan Heita led his soldiers and escorted many captives to greet them at the city gate.

Seeing Liu Taozi, Yan Heita asked the captives to kneel down and pay homage to him.

Most of these captives were generals and military officers who did not have time to escape. These people were quite well-behaved. At this moment, they saluted Liu Taozi respectfully and did not curse at him. They wanted to be loyal and righteous men.

The relationship between Zhou and Qi, especially on the border, was somewhat special. The people of the two places would do business together from time to time, and there was no blood feud between the superiors.

"General, the office has been taken, but Wang Jingjun escaped and we didn't catch him."

Liu Taozi didn't say anything, so Liu Chengcai hurried forward and said, "General, there are tens of thousands of civilians in Niutou Garrison, and there are also a lot of supplies. Can I go and prepare the carriages and horses?"

"We won't plunder, I want to occupy this place."

Liu Taozi looked at Yan Heita and issued a military order, "Gather the troops, tell them not to burn, kill, and loot in the city, send people to guard the granary in the city, count the military merits, and formulate rewards for the soldiers. Let Beishuo send military officials to take over this place and govern it."

"only!!"

Yan Heita hurriedly saluted.

Liu Chengcai was stunned, and said again: "General, the enemy has three garrisons watching each other. As the front line, we occupy this place and have to guard it. It is far away from us, and the enemy is very close. Their cavalry can kill here in an hour. I am afraid it will be of no benefit."

"Then we should capture the two garrisons as well."

Liu Chengcai was stunned for a moment, "Yes"

The scouts rode fast horses and charged along the road. No one dared to stop them and everyone gave way.

In this way, they arrived at Wanshou Fort without any obstacles, and the scouts hurried to pay a visit to Potalaku.

At this moment, Potala was sitting in the house with Zu Ting, and Potala was flipping through the books in his hands.

These books are extremely precious and do not look like ordinary things.

Potala looked at the yellowed book in amazement. He carefully opened the front page and saw a series of annotations, as if the author was afraid that people would not understand it, so he left extremely detailed annotations.

Potala watched it carefully, and was really afraid that he would not understand it.

The small characters in the annotations all started the same: "My son is good at hiding. You need to know." Potala was somewhat moved. He put down the book and looked at Zu Ting. "Grandfather loves his youngest son so much that he even made such a detailed annotation."

"These book annotations are all written for your children. This gift is too precious."

Zu Ting was stunned. He scratched his nose and said, "This Shanzang is not my son. This is a friend's book. I bought it from him. I bought a lot of it at the beginning."

"I see!"

"I guess this friend has a very good relationship with you, right?"

"Yes, we are very close friends."

As the two were talking, a scout ran in hurriedly.

"General Potara! The general has given orders!"

Potala quickly put down the book, picked up the book order and looked at it hastily, but Zu Ting did not move at all, still fumbling with his books, and did not even look at Potala.

After reading the letter, Potala was overjoyed. He looked at Zu Ting and was about to speak.

"The general has already taken over Niutou Fort. Let us send some officials to take over the area, right?"

Potala's eyes widened, "Grandfather, how did you know that?"

"Hahaha, Niutou Fort is strong, but the garrison commander is incompetent. He has been defeated several times in the past against border soldiers and he doesn't even dare to go out of the city to fight. How can such a person stop the lord? Besides, the people under Yang Zhong don't like him at all, and I'm afraid they won't send troops to rescue him. The loss of Niutou is inevitable."

"I have already prepared the scattered officials. You can send the knights to escort them later."

Potala exclaimed: "Grandpa is so talented!"

"In addition, if we lose the Bull Head, Xin'an will be in danger. The Lord will certainly pursue Wang Jingjun and capture Xin'an. We need to prepare more people. If you are not afraid of being punished, you can send them over together, so that the Lord doesn't have to write letters to urge us."

Zu Ting said this and slowly stood up.

"Everything is settled, I should also go. This time the lord has captured Ershu, the war has started, and there should be some action in Yecheng, I have to go to Shuozhou."

Zu Ting smiled sinisterly, but in Potala's eyes, this smile seemed extremely unfathomable.

"Grandfather, the journey is long. I will send someone to escort you there."

"No need! No need!"

Zu Ting waved his hand and suddenly said with emotion: "I am not afraid of no one escorting me, but I am leading people from Yecheng, and most of the horses here are weak, not as good as those in the border areas. I am afraid that it will take a long time to walk all the way."

Potala looked outside the door in a hurry. "Someone, bring me five of the best war horses!"

"Grandfather, I will give you these five war horses. I cannot delay your important matter."

Zu Ting was shocked and hurriedly grabbed Potala's hand, "How can this be possible?! Isn't it a waste of money?"

"No problem, my grandfather has lent me so many books, how can I be rude?!"

When Zu Ting left Wanshou, the warhorse under his crotch changed its appearance. Zu Ting stroked the horse's mane with a smile. More than ten riders followed him. The old slave also rode a big horse and followed beside him, stroking the warhorse under his crotch with a silly smile on his face.

The road is flat and leads all the way to Shuozhou.

The saplings on both sides survived and began to look like a road protection forest. A faint smoke rose from the farmland in the distance. A few laborers were seen sitting by the farmland, holding dry biscuits, boiling water, and talking and laughing.

The old slave said, "The war horses here are better than those in Ye City. Look at their bodies, they are a head taller than us!"

Zu Ting grinned, "It's true that the Hu people are easy to deceive. Just by giving them a few books, they can get such a good horse. If such a war horse is placed in Yecheng, it can really be exchanged for a house!"

The old slave nodded, "Not a loss!"

"Hahahaha~~"

Zu Ting laughed out loud.

They rushed all the way like this, the desolate scenery along the way gradually disappeared, the cultivated land became more and more, and the number of passers-by and farmers they met also gradually increased.

Once you actually enter Shuozhou, there isn't much frontier scenery left.

Zu Ting returned to Tian Zili again.

But this time, Tian Zili did not dare to send soldiers to invite him to the villa. He led the bandits to greet him in person.

Zu Ting's official position was not an official one in the temple. There was no military advisor or chief priest in the Great Qi Dynasty. Liu Taozi did not even submit a petition for him. He was the kind of person who conferred the title upon himself. Once Zu Ting left Liu Taozi's jurisdiction, no one would recognize his position.

But within the jurisdiction, this position is quite important.

Everyone didn't know what the rank of this official position was, but they could still understand what it meant to follow the general and give him advice.

Kou Liu, wearing armor, stood beside Tian Zili and was very curious about Zu Ting, whom he had never met before.

"Zili, didn't he say he was with his brother? Why is he here?"

Tian Zili shook his head, his face cold, "I don't know, or maybe he has some instructions."

"Order?"

Kou Liu narrowed his eyes, his expression somewhat unfriendly.

They waited like this for a long time before Zu Ting appeared with his men in the distance on the road. Watching them move forward slowly, Tian Zilie raised his head slightly without saying a word.

A moment later, Zu Ting arrived in front of them. Zu Ting dismounted from his horse with a smile and hurried over to pay his respects to Tian Zilie.

Tian Zili also forced a smile in return.

When the two met, before they had time to speak, Kou Liu suddenly said, "Grandfather, you really made us wait so long."

"This new noble from Wuchuan is really different."

"No wonder I was whipped in Yecheng and had to run here."

Zu Ting was not angry at all. He looked up at the person who spoke.

I saw that this man had extremely long arms and a strange beard, and he was undoubtedly a Xianbei.

Zu Ting laughed immediately, "Is it General Ruokou Yinliu? I have heard of your great name for a long time!"

"It's not that I'm slow, I just met some Xianbei people herding sheep on the way, they blocked my way."

"you!!!"

Tian Zili hurriedly pulled Kou Liu back, looked at Zu Ting with a smile, and said, "I haven't seen you for a few days. You look much more majestic."

Zu Ting shook his head, "Mr. Tian, ​​I came here for important matters. We can talk about other things later."

"please."

Tian Zilie said no more and invited Zu Ting to enter the city. Kou Liu followed Tian Zilie with a dark face.

Zu Ting and Tian Zili walked towards the government office together. Zu Ting whispered, "The memorial I drafted should have arrived in Yecheng. Next, you need to be prepared."

"What preparation?"

"Prepare to accept the dead."

Zu Ting grinned, "This is a great happy event!"

"I predict that more than 100,000 people may flock to Shuozhou, Hengzhou and other places."

"There are also many scribes and craftsmen. They are all talented people!"

Tian Zili frowned and asked, "Grandfather, do you think there will be some unrest?"

"If the emperor knew that my master was at war with the Pseudo-Zhou, he would unscrupulously purge the ministers in the court and the country."

"Gao Guiyan will definitely rebel. If the emperor wants to deal with him, he must send him away from the center and to a local place. It cannot be a state with a large number of troops or close to the border. It must be a large and wealthy state, worthy of Gao Guiyan's status. Where else can it be?"

"Jizhou or Dingzhou."

"Dingzhou has a lot of troops, and Gao Guiyan has many confidants there, so he should go to Jizhou as the governor. Jizhou is so rich. Once the two sides go to war, hahahaha, how many people in Jizhou will have to run away?"

"The harder and more brutally they fight, the more we will gain. By then, tens of thousands of people will flee here, and Shuozhou will be greatly governed! Hahaha~~"

Looking at the overjoyed Zu Ting, Kou Liu coldly questioned: "Tens of thousands of people are displaced and suffering from the war, and this is considered a great joy? Zugong laughed at this?"

Zu Ting glanced at him and said, "General Kou, why don't you write a letter to them, asking them to stop fighting?"

"It wasn't me who asked them to fight, why can't I laugh?"

"What makes the world so miserable are these hypocritical people who can't laugh, pretending to be so hypocritical, feeling compassion for the world, happy in their hearts, but not daring to say it out loud. It's so heartbreaking, why don't you stop it?"

"Instead of thinking about whether this is a good thing or not, or whether we should laugh, we should spend more time to settle them. What do you think, General Kou?"

(End of this chapter)